15<\/strong>. I will give her her vineyards from thence<\/em> ] So soon as she has left the wilderness (‘from thence’), Jehovah will restore to her the vineyards which he had taken away ( Hos 2:12<\/em><\/span>).<\/p>\n the valley of Achor for a door of hope<\/em> ] Whereas the first Israelites had to call their first encampment after crossing the Jordan the valley of Achor or ‘Troubling’ (Jos 7:26<\/span>), their descendants shall find the same spot a starting point for a career of success. Another prophet praises the same valley for its fertility (Isa 65:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n she shall sing there<\/em> ] Or, ‘thereupon’. Alluding to the songs of Moses and Miriam in Exo 15:1<\/span> (see Hos 2:21<\/em><\/span>, where, as St Jerome with Jewish writers points out, the same verb is used of Miriam’s ‘answering’ the song of Moses). But antiphonal singing is not suitable here, and much less in Hos 2:23-23<\/em><\/span> (where A. V. arbitrarily alters the rendering of the verb). Render, she shall respond there<\/strong> Theod. , Aq. , which however St Jerome explains, ‘prcinentibus respondebit concinens’. The heart of Israel shall be softened, and she shall be responsive to the divine call, as in ‘the days of her youth’ (comp. Jer 2:2<\/span>), when she came out of Egypt.<\/p>\n And I will give her her vineyards from thence – <\/B>Gods mercies are not only in word, but in deed. He not only speaks to her heart, but he restores to her what He had taken from her. He promises, not only to reverse His sentence, but that He would make the sorrow itself the source of the joy. He says, I will give her back her vineyards thence, i. e., from the wilderness itself; as elsewhere, He says, The wilderness shall be a fruitful field Isa 32:15<\/span>. Desolation shall be the means of her restored inheritance and joy in God. Through fire and drought are the new flagons dried and prepared, into which the new wine of the Gospel is poured.<\/P> And the valley of Achor for a door of hope – <\/B>(Literally, troubling). As, at the first taking possession of the promised land, Israel learned through the transgression and punishment of Achan, to stand in awe of God, and thenceforth, all went well with them, when they had wholly freed themselves from the accursed thing, so to them shall sorrow be turned into joy, and hope dawn there, where there had been despair. Therefore, only had they to endure chastisements, that through them they might attain blessings. It was through the punishment of those who troubled the true Israel, the destruction of Jerusalem, that to the Apostles and the rest who believed, the hope of victory over the whole world was opened. Hope. The word more fully means, a patient, enduring longing. To each returning soul, the valley of trouble, or the lowliness of repentance, becometh a door of patient longing, not in itself, but because God giveth it to be so; a longing which reacheth on, awaiteth on, entering within the veil, and bound first to the Throne of God. But then only, when none of the accursed thing Jos 7:11-15<\/span> cleaveth to it, when it has no reserves with God, and retains nothing for itself, which God hath condemned.<\/P> And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth – <\/B>The song is a responsive song, choir answering choir, each stirring up the other to praise, and praise echoing praise, as Israel did after the deliverance at the Red Sea. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord. I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously. And Miriam the prophetess the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel, and all the women went out after her. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously Exo 15:1<\/span>, Exo 15:20-21<\/span>. So the Seraphim sing one to another, holy, holy, holy Isa 6:3<\/span>; so Paul exhorts Christians to admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in their hearts to the Lord Col 3:16<\/span>; so the Jewish psalmody passed into the Christian Church, and the blessed in heaven, having on the Cross passed the troublesome sea of this world, sing the new song of Moses and of the Lamb Rev 15:3<\/span>.<\/P> She shall sing there – <\/B>Where? There, where he allureth her, where He leadeth her, where He speaketh to her heart, where He in worketh in her that hope. There, shall she sing, there, give praise and thanks.<\/P> As in the days of her youth – <\/B>Her youth is explained, in what follows, to be the days when she came up out of the land of Egypt, when she was first born to the knowledge of her God, when the past idolatries had been forgiven and cut off; and she had all the freshness of new life, and had not yet wasted it by rebellion and sin. Then God first called Israel, My firstborn son. My son, My firstborn Exo 4:22<\/span>. She came up into the land which God chose, out of Egypt, since we go up to God and to things above; as, on the other hand, the prophet says, Woe to those who go down to Egypt Isa 31:1<\/span>, for the aids of this world; and the man who was wounded, the picture of the human race, was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luk 10:30<\/span>; see the note above at Hos 1:11<\/span>).<\/P> <\/p>\n Verse 15. She shall sing there<\/B><\/I>] There she shall sing the responsive song<\/I>, as on high festival occasions, and in marriage ceremonies. The Book of Canticles<\/I> is of this sort.<\/P> <\/p>\n And I, reconciled to her, will give her her vineyards; will both settle her, and abundantly enrich her with blessings, as the phrase implieth. <\/P> From thence; either from the place of their exile and sufferings, or from the time of their hearkening to the Lord speaking to them in their distresses and sorrows; or if it refer to Hos 2:12<\/span>, it is a promise to comfort them under that threat which swept away the blessings of vines mid fig trees in their own land, and here is a promise of vineyards to them from the time of their repentance, and from the place where they are captives. <\/P> The valley of Achor; which was a large, fruitful, and pleasant valley near Jericho, and on the very entrance into the land of Canaan, where after forty years travels and sorrows Israel first set foot on a country such as they expected. <\/P> For a door of hope: as that valley was a door of hope to Israel then, by that Israel saw that he should enjoy the Promised Land; so would God deal with repenting Israel in the times here pointed at. <\/P> She shall sing praises to their God for his mercies, and sing forth their own joys too, and answer each other, sing in responses, as the word signifieth. <\/P> As in the days of her youth: as that age is most jocund, and expresseth it by singing, so shall it be as renewed youth to Israel, full of blessings from God, and full of praises to God. <\/P> When she came up out of the land of Egypt: this passage explains the former; their youth is a time somewhat like the time of their coming out of Egypt, their mercies now like the mercies of that time, and their joys and songs shall be like too. However these things were fulfilled to the type, whose repentance and return to God is not very eminent, they are all fully made good to antitype Israel, the church of Christ, in spiritual blessings, chiefly here intended. <\/P> <\/p>\n 15. from thence<\/B>returning fromthe wilderness. God gives Israel a fresh grant of Canaan, which shehad forfeited; so of her vineyards, c. (Hos 2:9<\/span>Hos 2:12<\/span>). <\/P> Achor<\/B>that is,”trouble.” As formerly Israel, after their tedious journeythrough the wilderness, met with the trouble<\/I> resulting fromAchan’s crime in this valley, on the very threshold of Canaan, andyet that trouble<\/I> was presently turned into joy<\/I> at thegreat victory at Ai, which threw all Canaan into their hands (Jos7:1-8:28<\/span>); so the very trouble of Israel’s wilderness state willbe the “door of hope” opening to better days. The valley ofAchor, near Jericho, was specially fruitful (Isa65:10<\/span>); so “trouble” and “hope” are rightlyblended in connection with it. <\/P> sing . . . as . . . when shecame . . . out of . . . Egypt<\/B>It shall be a second exodus song,such as Israel sang after the deliverance at the Red Sea (Ex15:1-21<\/span>; compare Isa 11:15<\/span>;Isa 11:16<\/span>); and “the song ofMoses” (Rev 15:2<\/span>; Rev 15:3<\/span>)sung by those who through the Lamb overcome the beast, and so standon the sea of glass mingled with fire, emblems of fiery trial, suchas that of Israel at the Red Sea.<\/P><\/p>\n And I will give her vineyards from thence<\/strong>,…. Either from the wilderness into which she is brought; or from the time of her being brought there, allured and spoke comfortably to; which are put for all temporal blessings, and as emblems of spiritual ones: and so from the time that the Lord deals thus graciously, as before expressed, he gives more grace, larger measures, and continual supplies of it, and withholds nothing good, comfortable, and useful to them: the Vulgate Latin version renders it, “her vinedressers”; and the Targum, her governors:<\/p>\n and the valley of Achor for a door of hope<\/strong>; this valley was so named from Achan, who was stoned in it in the days of Joshua; who is by Josephus s, Theodoret t, and others, called Achar, and so in 1Ch 2:7<\/span> and the signification of its name is the valley of trouble, because that he both troubled Israel by his evil actions, which brought them into distress; and because he was here troubled himself, being here punished for his sin, Jos 7:24<\/span>. Jerome u says it lies to the north of Jericho, and is still called by its old name by the inhabitants of it. Some take it to be the same with the valley of Engedi, which it is certain was near Jericho. Now as the valley of Achor was at the entrance of the Israelites into the land of Canaan, and gave them hope of possessing the whole land; so what the people of God enjoy at first conversion lays a foundation for hope of eternal glory and happiness; as the Lord’s being given them as their portion, Christ as their Saviour, and all things freely with him; the Spirit and his grace as the earnest and pledge of the eternal inheritance: grace and glory are so strictly connected, that the one is a door of hope to the other.<\/p>\n And she shall sing there<\/strong>; either in the wilderness, where the Lord speaks comfortably to her; or in the vineyards she has from thence; alluding to the songs of joy at the time of vintage, or pressing of the grapes: or in the valley of Achor, there rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, singing the songs of electing, redeeming, pardoning, and justifying grace:<\/p>\n as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt<\/strong>: as when the people of Israel were first brought into their civil and ecclesiastic state, which were the days of their youth as a people; and that was when they came out of Egypt, and had passed the Red sea, at the shore of which they sung; and to which is the allusion here; see Ex 15:1<\/span> this passage is applied to the times of the Messiah in the Talmud w.<\/p>\n s Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 10, 14. t Comment. in loc. u De locis Hebr. fol. 88. B. tom. 3. w T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 111. 1.<\/p>\n The Prophet now plainly declares, that God’s favour would be evident, not only by words, but also by the effects and by experience, when the people were bent to obedience. The Prophet said in the last verse, ‘I will speak to her heart;’ now he adds, ‘I will bring a sure and clear evidence of my favour, that they may feel assured that I am reconciled to them.’ He therefore says that he would give them vines. He said before, ‘I will destroy her vines and fig-trees;’ but now he mentions only vineyards: but as we have said, the Prophet, under one kind, comprehends all other things; and he has chosen vines, because in vines the bounty of God especially appears. For bread is necessary to support life, wine abounds, and to it is ascribed the property of exhilarating the heart, Psa 104:15<\/span> : ‘Bread strengthens,’ or, ‘supports man’s heart; wine gladdens man’s heart.’ As then vines are usually planted not only for necessary purposes, but also for a more bountiful supply, the Prophet says, that the Lord, when reconciled to the people, will give them their vineyards from that place. <\/p>\n And I will give, he says, the valley of Achor, etc. He alludes to their situation in the wilderness: as soon as the Israelites came out of the wilderness, they entered the plain of Achor, which was fruitful, pleasant, and vine-bearing. Some think that the Prophet alludes to the punishment inflicted on the people for the sacrilege of Achan, but in my judgement they are mistaken; for the Prophet here means nothing else than that there would be a sudden change in the condition of the people, such as happened when they came out of the wilderness. For in the wilderness there was not even a grain of wheat or of barley, nor a bunch of grapes; in short, there was in the wilderness nothing but penury, accompanied with thousand deaths; but as soon as the people came out, they descended into the plain of Achor, which was most pleasant, and very fertile. The Prophet meant simply this, that when the people repented, there would be no delay on God’s part, but that he would free them from all evils, and restore a blessed abundance of all things, as was the case, when the people formerly descended into the plain of Achor. He therefore brings to the recollection of the Israelites what had happened to their fathers, Her vines, then, will I give her from that place, that is, “As soon as I shall by word testify my love to them, they shall effectually know and find that I am really and from the heart reconciled to them, and shall understand how inclined I am to show kindness; for I shall not long hold the people in suspense.” <\/p>\n And he adds, For an opening, or a door of hope He signifies here, that their restoration would be as from death into life. For though the people daily saw with their eyes that God took care of their life, for he rained manna from heaven and made water to flow from a rock; yet there was at the same time before their eyes the appearance of death. As long, then, as they sojourned in the wilderness, God did ever set before them the terrors of death: in short, their dwelling in the wilderness, as we have said, was their grave. But when the people descended into the plain of Achor, they then began to draw vital air; and they felt also that they at length lived, for they had obtained their wishes: they had now indeed come in sight of the inheritance promised to them. As then the valley of Achor was the beginning, and as it were the door of good hope to their fathers, so the Prophet, now alluding to that redemption, says, that God would immediately deal with so much kindness with the Israelites as to open for them a door of hope and salvation, as he had done formerly to their fathers in the valley of Achor. <\/p>\n And she shall sing there. We may easily learn from the context that those interpreters mistake who refinedly philosophise about the valley of Achor. It is indeed true that the root of the word is the verb עכר, ocar, which means, to confound or to destroy, and that this name was given to the place on account of what had occurred there: but the Prophet referred to no such thing, as it appears clearly from the second clause; for he says, “She shall sing there as in the days of her youth”, and as in the day in which she ascended from the land of Egypt. For then at length the people of God openly celebrated his praises, when they beheld with their eyes the promised land, when they saw an end to God’s severe vengeance, which continued for forty years. Hence the people then poured forth their hearts and employed their tongues in praises to God. The Prophet, therefore, teaches here, that their restoration would be such, that the people would really sing praises to God and offer him no ordinary thanks; not as they are wont to do who are relieved from a common evil, but as those who have been brought from death into life. She shall sing then as in the days of her childhood, as in that day when she ascended from the land of Egypt <\/p>\n Thus we see that a hope of deliverance is here given, that the faithful might sustain their minds in exile, and cherish the hope of future favour; that though the face of God would for a time be turned away from them, they might yet look for a future deliverance, nor doubt but that God would be propitious to them, after they had endured just punishment, and had been thus reformed: for as we have said, a moderate chastisement could not have been sufficient to subdue their perverseness. It follows — <\/p>\n (15) From thence<\/strong>i.e.,<\/em> away from thence, meaning, as soon as she has left the wilderness of exile and discipline. The valley of Achor (or trouble) was associated with the disgrace and punishment which befel Israel on her first entrance into Palestine (Jos. 7:25-26<\/span>), but it would in later days be regarded as the threshold of a blessed life. The sorrowful associations of the past were to be illuminated with happy anticipation.<\/p>\n Sing<\/strong> may suggest a reference to the dances and responsive songs at the village festivals, as well as to the triumphant strains of Exodus 15 15<\/strong>. <\/strong> From thence <\/strong> As soon as Jehovah has succeeded in speaking to her heart, as soon as she has come to her senses and is ready to appreciate the intimate relation formerly enjoyed, she will be led forth from the wilderness, and immediately upon leaving from thence the vineyards, which had been taken away (Hos 2:12<\/span>), will be restored. <\/p>\n Valley of Achor <\/strong> The place where Achan was stoned (Jos 7:26<\/span>), meaning “valley of troubling.” A very disheartening experience in the early days of the conquest. This is to become a door of hope <\/strong> The first Israelites entered upon the conquest of the promised land with a disheartening experience. Not so the restored community; the first experiences will be bright, an earnest of the good things to come. <\/p>\n Sing <\/strong> R.V., “make answer.” If the translation of A.V. is correct, the allusion is probably to the song of triumph in Exodus 15<\/span>. That was sung in her youth <\/strong> The time of the Exodus (Exo 11:1<\/span>). The new Exodus will again fill her heart with singing. The verb is literally “answer,” and might be used of the antiphonal singing (compare Exo 15:21<\/span>). In this connection antiphonal singing seems to be out of place; yet R.V. is to be preferred. Israel, seeing the renewed mercies of Jehovah, will respond to the divine love as formerly. This interpretation gives an acceptable sense (compare Hos 2:21-22<\/span>), but leaves a grammatical peculiarity. To remove this Buhl suggests changing one letter of the verb, so that it will read, “and she shall go up thither” to the door of hope as she did at the time of the Exodus.<\/p>\n As a result of this re-established union Israel’s tendency to turn to the Baalim will be eradicated. This is the thought of Hos 2:16-17<\/span>. It would remain the thought of 17 even if 16 should be an interpolation. The chief objection to Hos 2:16<\/span> Wellhausen expresses as follows: “Was Jehovah addressed at any time by Israel as Baali <\/em> my Master? Does Hosea really hope that instead he will now be addressed as Ishi <\/em> my husband?” <\/p>\n Baali <\/strong> Originally a common noun, meaning master, lord, <\/em> and even husband; <\/em> as such it might legitimately be applied to Jehovah. The present religious condition in Israel showed how difficult it was to maintain the proper distinction between Jehovah and the Baalim of the land. This confusion was increased by the application of the ambiguous Baal <\/em> to Jehovah. As Von Orelli says, “In every age ambiguous language has helped to distort religion.” In the regenerated future all religious danger must be removed, including the application of the name Baal, <\/em> obnoxious to Jehovah only because of its association with foreign cults. This feeling is also responsible for the change of proper names such as Ish-baal <\/em> (1Ch 8:33<\/span>; 1Ch 9:39<\/span>) into Ishbosheth <\/em> (2Sa 2:8<\/span>; 2Sa 3:7<\/span>). <\/p>\n Ishi <\/strong> My husband, <\/em> with practically the same meaning as Baali; <\/em> it is to be substituted because it is without unpleasant associations. That the Baalim are to be forgotten is taught in Hos 2:17<\/span>; Hos 2:16<\/span> is an attempt to express the same truth in a vivid and forceful manner, and a literal interpretation need not be pressed. The objection of Wellhausen, indorsed by Marti, is therefore not convincing. The latter weakens the text by emending it so as to read, “And it shall be at that day, saith Jehovah, that she shall call to her husband (that is, Jehovah) and she shall not call to her Baalim.” <\/p>\n At that day <\/strong> When the old-time relation becomes re-established. The change in person, from third to second and back to third, due to emotion and excitement, is not uncommon in prophetic discourse (G.-K., 144p). Names of <\/strong> [“the”] <\/p>\n Baalim <\/strong> The proper names of the various Baalim are not known; they were distinguished from one another by the addition of the name of their special locality (Hos 9:10<\/span>). <\/p>\n Remembered <\/strong> Better, with R.V., “mentioned” (Exo 23:13<\/span>; Zec 13:2<\/span>).<\/p>\n “And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope, and she will make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.”<\/p>\n And it would be out of that wilderness into which He had enticed her that He would give to her her vineyards. The point is that they would be a gift of the God of Sinai and would have their source in YHWH and not in Baal. The idea of vineyards out of the wilderness would also be a reminder of the manna and quails that He had once provided in the wilderness. Such an idea may indicate that no other than God could produce vineyards in the wilderness, or that it was only when the wilderness experience had purified them that they would again have fruitful vineyards provided by YHWH in the land. And the fruitfulness of such vineyards would be totally dependent on YHWH. In our case too it is regularly when we have been ‘in the wilderness’ that God gives us His choicest fruits, and it was equally true in the early church.<\/p>\n Furthermore He would give her the Valley of Achor (Jos 7:26<\/span>) as a door of hope. The Valley of Achor was the place where Achan was punished for keeping for himself that which had been devoted to YHWH when Israel had first entered the land (Joshua 7<\/span>). The last thing that Israel would have seen it as was a door of hope. There is a suggestion in this that the Israel to whom Hosea was speaking was seen as equally as reprehensible as Achan. But it was in the Valley of Achor that the curse was removed by the death of the victim, and that hope was therefore renewed. YHWH’s words here thus indicate that the reversal of YHWH’s curse on Israel must follow the pattern followed in that valley. There would need to be deaths and a release from cursing, deaths which did occur in large numbers in Assyria’s treatment of Israel. But what had been Israel’s shame would eventually, through expiation, become a door of hope. They could thus be sure that one day God’s curse on their present behaviour would be removed. It would be as though they had never sinned. That was something which in part did happen through the Exile (consider Isa 40:1-2<\/span>) but as we learn by comparison between Isa 40:3-6<\/span> and Luk 3:3-6<\/span>, that was only a precursor to what would happen more fully when the Lamb of God came and would be slain for the sins of the world.<\/p>\n The last thing that Israel would ever have expected was that that dark valley of Achor, which spoke of unforgivable sin and gross disobedience, would become a source of hope. It was an indication to them of how God could transform the darkest situation. And that is what He promised that He would do for them once He had restored them to the land, the land which had become theirs after the incident of the Valley of Achor. For in the very place which was a memorial of gross disobedience (the land of their inheritance) He would restore their obedience, granting a certain hope for the future. And there they would respond to Him, as they had in the days of their youth as a nation when they were in the wilderness, and as they had in that time when they came up out of the land of Egypt (Exo 14:31<\/span>; Exo 24:1-11<\/span>). The picture is one of future glorious deliverance by YHWH and great response from Israel as they ‘made answer’ to Him.<\/p>\n But that Valley of Achor has a deeper meaning for us. For we too were also under a curse (Gal 3:10<\/span>). And it was as a result of our Lord Jesus Christ bearing our curse on the cross (Gal 3:13<\/span>) that a door of hope has been opened for us.<\/p>\n And the result of all this is to be that His people ‘will make answer there’. They will respond to Him from their hearts, as they had done at the deliverance from Egypt. Notice the sequence: delivery from the land of Egypt, experience in the wilderness, the door of hope into Canaan. The deliverance from Egypt is thus being looked on as an example and picture of YHWH’s future deliverance, and especially therefore of the deliverance wrought through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who Himself came out of Egypt to die (Mat 2:15<\/span>). Egypt is the picture of oppression, both by men and by Satan, the wilderness is the picture of the place of refinement by YHWH, Achor is the place where the curse was dealt with, Canaan is the picture of both rest on this earth for the Christian (Heb 4:9-11<\/span>), and of the future glorious rest in Heaven. There is an interesting parallel here with the life of Jesus. He too was oppressed. He too entered into the wilderness, first to face testing as to His vocation, and then in order to win the people to His Father, He too then went to the place where our curse was dealt with, and He too will lead us safely into Heaven (Heb 2:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n Again this all found a kind of fulfilment in inter-Testamental days, when the people were restored to the land as a ‘forgiven’ people (e.g. Isa 40:1-2<\/span>) and demonstrated their renewed faith in YHWH time and again, especially in the days of the Maccabees when they resisted unto death, even though they failed again in the end. It was also true for the New Testament church, who were rejected by the oppressing authorities in Palestine, but found in that a door of hope, enabling them to leave accursed, unbelieving Israel behind and find a new Hope in God’s Messiah. They too had found Him in the land. Thus it was doubly fulfilled. But it was more than fulfilled, for from that land would go out the Gospel to the Gentiles to open a door of hope for them (compare Isa 2:2-4<\/span>), a door which no man could shut (Rev 3:8<\/span>), and we benefit from it to this day. We may note again the significance of the fact that it was as a result of being cursed on the cross that our Lord Jesus Christ became the door of hope to salvation (Joh 10:9<\/span>) and the way back to the Father (Joh 14:6<\/span>).<\/p>\n Hos 2:15<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Thence<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> The English word thence <\/em>renders either from that place, <\/em>or from that time, <\/em>or in consequence of those things; <\/em>and the original word is used in all these various senses. No one of these senses would be inapplicable in this place; but the last seems the most significant. God declares, that the calamities of the dispersion, together with the soothing intimations of the Gospel, by bringing the Jewish race to a right mind, will be the means of reinstating them in that wealth and prosperity, which God will provide for them in their own land. <\/p>\n Hos 2:15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.<\/p>\n Ver. 15. I will give her her vineyards from thence<\/strong> ] Or, from thenceforth: either from that time, or from that place. God, as out of his melting heartedness toward her, he thinks she hath suffered double for all her sins, Isa 40:2<\/span> (though she think she hath suffered less than her sins, Ezr 9:13 ); so he is ready, upon her repentance, to make her (strait) a plentiful amends. He destroyed her vineyards and damped her mirth, Hos 2:11-12<\/span> . Now she shall have all again, with advantage: not her grain only for necessity, but her vineyards also for delight: yea, an honest affluence of both. She shall have real manifestations of his love: and although he take her into the wilderness, yet will he not be unto her a wilderness, or a land of darkness: wherefore then should his people say, “We are lords, we will come no more unto thee?” Jer 2:31<\/span> ; why should they not rather reason thus with the prodigal: “I will go to my father; for in his house is bread enough.” I will return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now. I will repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, &c. Lo, this is the right way of reasoning, sc.<\/em> from mercy to duty, from deliverance to obedience, Ezr 9:14<\/span> . “The love of Christ constraineth us,” saith Paul: the grace of the gospel teacheth us to deny ungodliness, and to live godly, &c. The kindness of God leadeth to repentance: and if bethought by the mercies of God to present our bodies for a sacrifice to God, how can we do otherwise? 2Co 5:14 Tit 2:14<\/span> Rom 2:4 Rom 12:1<\/span> . If God bring vineyards out of wildernesses, comforts out of crosses, meat out of eaters, honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, that is, mercies out of difficulties, they must needs be very hardhearted that are not melted and mollified thereby, Deu 32:13<\/span> . <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And the valley of Achor for a door of hope<\/strong> ] The valley was near unto Jericho, that city of palm trees, and was fertile, fat, and full of vines, Isa 65:10<\/span> , thought to be the same with Engeddi, which is often mentioned in the Canticles. This valley was a kind of door or inlet into the promised land: and here they began first to eat of the fruits of the land, which they had so much longed for, Jos 5:12<\/span> , and now hoped for the enjoyment of the whole; whereof that valley was a pledge and earnest. Hereby, then, is covertly promised to God’s people deliverance by Christ, together with the firstfruits and earnest of the Spirit, whereby they shall be brought to an assured hope of the harvest of happiness, of the whole bargain of Christ’s benefits. Spes in humanis incerti nomen boni: spes in divinis nomen est certissimi; <\/em> Heb 11:1<\/span> , this is hope unfailable, as proceeding from faith unfeigned, which can believe God upon his bare word, and that against sense in things invisible, and against reason in things incredible. It can take a man out of the valley of Achor, that is, of trouble, see <\/em> Jos 7:6 and set him on the everlasting mountains, where, as from Pisgah, he may have a full prospect of heaven; the hope whereof maketh absent joys present, wants plenitudes, and beguiles calamity (as good company doth the way), yea, looks upon it as an inlet to mercy, a promise whereof to apostatizing Israel some make this fat valley of Achor to be, dotis nomine,<\/em> as a dowry; in allusion to the manner of the Jews in their marriages, to give some piece of ground to the spouse as a pledge. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And she shall sing there<\/strong> ] As rejoicing in hope, Rom 12:12<\/span> . Et res plena gaudio et spes,<\/em> as Bernard hath it. “They shall shout for joy, they shall also sing,” Psa 65:13<\/span> . Some think the prophet here alludeth to that custom of the Jews to sing in the time of their vintage, see Jdg 9:27 Isa 16:10<\/span> . Others will have it to be an allusion to their marriage songs; that being the time of the rejoicing of a man’s heart, Son 3:11<\/span> , viz. at the recovery of his lost rib. The Septuagint render it, she shall be humbled; and indeed the word signifieth both to be humbled and to sing. Some are humbled, but not humble; low, but not lowly; these must look for more load; but they that mourn in a godly manner are sure to be comforted. God will turn all their sighing into singing; they shall sing aloud upon their beds, which they have soaked in tears, and made to swim again, as David, Psa 6:6<\/span> . A reconciled condition is a singing condition. Bernard was so overjoyed at his conversion, that he was almost beside himself. Cyprian telleth his friend, Donatus, that his comforts then were inexpressible. Austin saith the like of himself. The saints cannot but sing at this door of hope, though they be not yet got in at it. See Psa 138:5<\/span> , “they shall sing in the ways of the Lord,” though they be yet but wayfarers. “God’s statutes are their songs even in the house of their pilgrimage,” Psa 119:54<\/span> , as hoping to sing shortly in the “height of Zion, to flow to the bountifulness of the Lord,” Jer 31:12<\/span> . “As in the days of her youth, and in the day when she came up,” &c., out of a low country, but a lower condition; being shiftless and succourless (helpless). Then did God put timbrels into their hands and ditties into their mouths. See Exo 15:20<\/span> . And so it is here said, he will do again in the time of the gospel. Let our non-singers here take notice, that singing (and that jointly with others) is a gospel ordinance; and for further proof let them read Mr Cotton’s excellent treatise upon this subject.<\/p>\n Hosea<\/p>\n THE VALLEY OF ACHOR<\/p>\n Hos 2:15 <\/strong> .<\/p>\n The Prophet Hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of events in the former history of his people. Their past seems to him a mirror in which they may read their future. He believes that ‘which is to be hath already been,’ the great principles of the divine government living on through all the ages, and issuing in similar acts when the circumstances are similar. So he foretells that there will yet be once more a captivity and a bondage, that the old story of the wilderness will be repeated once more. In that wilderness God will speak to the heart of Israel. Its barrenness shall be changed into the fruitfulness of vineyards, where the purpling clusters hang ripe for the thirsty travellers. And not only will the sorrows that He sends thus become sources of refreshment, but the gloomy gorge through which they journey-the valley of Achor-will be a door of hope.<\/p>\n One word is enough to explain the allusion. You remember that after the capture of Jericho by Joshua, the people were baffled in their first attempt to press up through the narrow defile that led from the plain of Jordan to the highlands of Canaan. Their defeat was caused by the covetousness of Achan, who for the sake of some miserable spoil which he found in a tent, broke God’s laws, and drew down shame on Israel’s ranks When the swift, terrible punishment on him had purged the camp, victory again followed their assault, and Achan lying stiff and stark below his cairn, they pressed on up the glen to their task of conquest. The rugged valley, where that defeat and that sharp act of justice took place, was named in memory thereof, the valley of Achor<\/em> , that is, trouble<\/em> ; and our Prophet’s promise is that as then, so for all future ages, the complicity of God’s people with an evil world will work weakness and defeat, but that, if they will be taught by their trouble and will purge themselves of the accursed thing, then the disasters will make a way for hope to come to them again. The figure which conveys this is very expressive. The narrow gorge stretches before us, with its dark overhanging cliffs that almost shut out the sky; the path is rough and set with sharp pebbles; it is narrow, winding, steep; often it seems to be barred by some huge rock that juts across it, and there is barely room for the broken ledge yielding slippery footing between the beetling crag above and the steep slope beneath that dips so quickly to the black torrent below. All is gloomy, damp, hard; and if we look upwards the glen becomes more savage as it rises, and armed foes hold the very throat of the pass. But, however long, however barren, however rugged, however black, however trackless, we may see if we will, a bright form descending the rocky way with radiant eyes and calm lips, God’s messenger, Hope; and the rough rocks are like the doorway through which she comes near to us in our weary struggle. For us all, dear friends, it is true. In all our difficulties and sorrows, be they great or small; in our business perplexities; in the losses that rob our homes of their light; in the petty annoyances that diffuse their irritation through so much of our days; it is within our power to turn them all into occasions for a firmer grasp of God, and so to make them openings by which a happier hope may flow into our souls.<\/p>\n But the promise, like all God’s promises, has its well-defined conditions. Achan has to be killed and put safe out of the way first, or no shining Hope will stand out against the black walls of the defile. The tastes which knit us to the perishable world, the yearnings for Babylonish garments and wedges of gold, must be coerced and subdued. Swift, sharp, unrelenting justice must be done on the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, if our trials are ever to become doors of hope.<\/em> There is no natural tendency in the mere fact of sorrow and pain to make God’s love more discernible, or to make our hope any firmer. All depends on how we use the trial, or as I say-first stone Achan, and then hope!<\/p>\n So, the trouble which detaches us from earth gives us new hope. Sometimes the effect of our sorrows and annoyances and difficulties is to rivet us more firmly to earth. The eye has a curious power, which they call persistence of vision, of retaining the impression made upon it, and therefore of seeming to see the object for a definite time after it has really been withdrawn. If you whirl a bit of blazing stick round, you will see a circle of fire though there is only a point moving rapidly in the circle. The eye has its memory like the soul. And the soul has its power of persistence like the eye, and that power is sometimes kindled into activity by the fact of loss. We often see our departed joys, and gaze upon them all the more eagerly for their departure. The loss of dear ones should stamp their image on our hearts, and set it as in a golden glory. But it sometimes does more than that; it sometimes makes us put the present with its duties impatiently away from us. Vain regret, absorbed brooding over what is gone, a sorrow kept gaping long after it should have been healed, like a grave-mound off which desperate love has pulled turf and flowers, in the vain attempt to clasp the cold hand below-in a word, the trouble that does not withdraw us from the present will never be a door of hope, but rather a grim gate for despair to come in at.<\/p>\n The trouble which knits us to God gives us new hope. That bright form which comes down the narrow valley is His messenger and herald-sent before His face. All the light of hope is the reflection on our hearts of the light of God. Her silver beams, which shed quietness over the darkness of earth, come only from that great Sun. If our hope is to grow out of our sorrow, it must be because our sorrow drives us to God. It is only when we by faith stand in His grace, and live in the conscious fellowship of peace with Him, that we rejoice in hope. If we would see Hope drawing near to us, we must fix our eyes not on Jericho that lies behind among its palm-trees, though it has memories of conquests, and attractions of fertility and repose, nor on the corpse that lies below that pile of stones, nor on the narrow way and the strong enemy in front there; but higher up, on the blue sky that spreads peaceful above the highest summits of the pass, and from the heavens we shall see the angel coming to us. Sorrow forsakes its own nature, and leads in its own opposite, when sorrow helps us to see God. It clears away the thick trees, and lets the sunlight into the forest shades, and then in time corn will grow. Hope is but the brightness that goes before God’s face, and if we would see it we must look at Him.<\/p>\n The trouble which we bear rightly with God’s help, gives new hope. If we have made our sorrow an occasion for learning, by living experience, somewhat more of His exquisitely varied and ever ready power to aid and bless, then it will teach us firmer confidence in these inexhaustible resources which we have thus once more proved, ‘Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.’ That is the order. You cannot put patience and experience into a parenthesis, and omitting them, bring hope out of tribulation. But if, in my sorrow, I have been able to keep quiet because I have had hold of God’s hand, and if in that unstruggling submission I have found that from His hand I have been upheld, and had strength above mine own infused into me, then my memory will give the threads with which Hope weaves her bright web. I build upon two things-God’s unchangeableness, and His help already received; and upon these strong foundations I may wisely and safely rear a palace of Hope, which shall never prove a castle in the air. The past, when it is God’s past, is the surest pledge for the future. Because He has been with us in six troubles, therefore we may be sure that in seven He will not forsake us. I said that the light of hope was the brightness from the face of God. I may say again, that the light of hope which fills our sky is like that which, on happy summer nights, lives till morning in the calm west, and with its colourless, tranquil beauty, tells of a yesterday of unclouded splendour, and prophesies a to-morrow yet more abundant. The glow from a sun that is set, the experience of past deliverances, is the truest light of hope to light our way through the night of life.<\/p>\n One of the psalms gives us, in different form, a metaphor and a promise substantially the same as that of this text. ‘Blessed are the men who, passing through the valley of weeping, make it a well.’ They gather their tears, as it were, into the cisterns by the wayside, and draw refreshment and strength from their very sorrows, and then, when thus we in our wise husbandry have irrigated the soil with the gathered results of our sorrows, the heavens bend over us, and weep their gracious tears, and ‘the rain also covereth it with blessings.’ No chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.’<\/p>\n Then, dear friends, let us set ourselves with our loins girt to the road. Never mind how hard it may be to climb. The slope of the valley of trouble is ever upwards. Never mind how dark is the shadow of death which stretches athwart it. If there were no sun there would be no shadow; presently the sun will be right overhead, and there will be no shadow then. Never mind how black it may look ahead, or how frowning the rocks. From between their narrowest gorge you may see, if you will, the guide whom God has sent you, and that Angel of Hope will light up all the darkness, and will only fade away when she is lost in the sevenfold brightness of that upper land, whereof our ‘God Himself is Sun and Moon’-the true Canaan, to whose everlasting mountains the steep way of life has climbed at last through valleys of trouble, and of weeping, and of the shadow of death.<\/p>\n from thence: i.e. [when she cometh] from thence. Reference to Pentateuch (Num 16:13, Num 16:14). App-92. <\/p>\n the valley of Achor. Ref to Jos 7:26. App-92. The events must have been written down at the time and preserved. See App-47. <\/p>\n Achor = trouble. Compare Jos 7:24-26. <\/p>\n door = entrance. <\/p>\n hope = expectation; no longer of trouble. <\/p>\n shall sing there. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 15:1). App-92. <\/p>\n there. Where Jehovah allureth, and bringeth, and speaketh. <\/p>\n as in the days, &c. Compare Jer 2:2. Eze 16:8, Eze 16:22, Eze 16:60. <\/p>\n when she came up. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 1:10; Exo 12:38; Exo 13:18, &c); and when Jehovah said “My son” (Exo 4:22). App-92. <\/p>\n The Valley of Achor<\/p>\n And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope.Hos 2:15.<\/p>\n The Prophet Hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of events in the former history of his people. Their past seems to him a mirror in which they may read their future. He believes that that which is to be hath already been, the great principles of the Divine government living on through all the ages, and issuing in similar acts when the circumstances are similar. So he foretells that there will yet be once more a captivity and a bondage, that the old story of the wilderness will be repeated once more. In that wilderness God will speak to the heart of Israel. Its barrenness will be changed into the fruitfulness of vineyards, where the purpling clusters hang ripe for the thirsty travellers. And not only will the sorrows that He sends thus become sources of refreshment, but the gloomy gorge through which they journeythe valley of Achorwill be a door of hope.<\/p>\n One of the psalms gives us, in different form, a metaphor and a promise substantially the same as that of this text. Blessed are they who, passing through the valley of Weeping, make it a well. They gather their tears, as it were, into the cisterns by the wayside, and draw refreshment and strength from their very sorrows, and then, when in their wise husbandry they have thus irrigated the soil with the gathered results of their sorrows, the heavens bend over them, and weep their gracious tears, and the rain also covereth it with blessings.<\/p>\n I<\/p>\n The Valley of Promise<\/p>\n The valley of Achor was to the Israelites the key to the possession of Palestine. It was a valley lying to the north of Jericho, between it and the highlands beyond. It was the first land upon which the Israelites entered after they crossed the Jordan, and the walls of Jericho fell flat to the ground. Hard by the city of palm trees was the fertile valley of Achor. If ever the Israelites in captivity were to go back again, they must enter Palestine by the same door if they crossed the Jordan at all; the key of the position was the valley of Achor, the first region of which they would have to take possession if they wished to win the rest of the land.<\/p>\n Such was its physical formation that in a most literal sense the valley of Achor was a door of hope, for in front of the Israelites, as they wound through the pass, there lay at the far end of the vista the smiling vineyards and yellow cornfields and peaceful blue hills of the Promised Land. So does the Redeemer lead those to whose hearts He has spoken, assuring them of reconciliation and peace with Himself. Every winding in the avenue of life reveals a blessing that is richer than the blessings they at present enjoy. They are lured from grace unto grace, and from strength unto strength. Mercy joins hand with mercy. Each good thing received becomes the pledge and the foretaste of a better which God hath prepared for as many as love Him.<\/p>\n There was an old English custom by which a man took possession of an estate by turf and twig. A sod of the turf and a twig from a tree were given to him. This was a token that the whole estate, with everything which grew upon it, was his property. And so, when Jesus whispered into your ear, and gave you the assurance of reconciliation with the Father, and fellowship with Himself, He did, as it were, give you the whole land of promise. The richest enjoyment of the believer is yours. You have the foretaste, and that is the pledge that you shall yet enter into the possession of the whole. However great the promise, however rich may be its treasure, it is all yours. You have not yet fed upon the clusters of its vineyards, but it is all yours; because, in taking possession of your first enjoyment, you have virtually claimed the whole. It was said of William the Conqueror, when he landed here, that he stumbled; but, clutching a handful of earth, he hailed it as a happy omen, saying that, in taking possession of that handful of earth, he had taken all England for his own. And you, who, on your bended knees fell prostrate before God in that first rich treasure of joy which came into your soulsyou took possession of all the inheritance of the saints on earth, and of their inheritance in heaven.1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.] <\/p>\n II<\/p>\n The Valley of Trouble<\/p>\n 1. The valley of Achor became the scene of a great tragedy. Just after the capture of Jericho, at the time when the chosen people had invaded the Land of Promise, it came to light that a certain man, Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, had taken a portion of the spoil which ought to have been reserved for the treasury of God Himself; he had hidden it in his tent, and it had brought defeat upon the whole army, and now he was found out. His sin had been brought home to him, and all Israel stoned him with stones until he died, and they raised over him, says the sacred historian, a great heap of stones, unto this day. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The Valley of Achor (i.e., the Valley of Troubling), unto this day.<\/p>\n It was treachery that Achan had been guilty of. He had been the friend of the friends of God; he had gone in and out with them; he had shared their hopes, their efforts, their successes. Who can doubt that in the service of the sanctuary he had knelt side by side with those upon whom he was bringing at that very time the curse of shame? This is what makes sin always most sinful and shamefulits treachery. We do not suspect it. We do not believe it. We are not armed as we might have been against it. The poison spreads and spreads, and nobody knows it. There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel.<\/p>\n Leaving the ten gulfs of torment, where fraud meets its due, the pilgrims, by the aid of a giant, are lowered into the last dismal pit of hell. This nethermost circle is buried in the heart of the earth; it is the region of pitiless cold; every spark of warm love is banished from this spot where treachery is punished. When the false heart has sold itself to the deceit which works evil against those to whom it is bound by ties of blood or gratitude, love flies from it. In such a chill heart pity cannot dwell; and, alas! the penalty of evil is to place itself under influences which tend to perpetuate the evil. The false, cold heart dwells where the icy blast does but intensify its coldness; the breath which beats upon it freezes all it touches. This, the possession of a heart out of which love has perished, is the last doom of sin! The Psalmist, who delineated the downward progress of sin, expressed the final stage as the incapacity to hate evil; man at the worst is the man of whom it can be said, Neither doth he abhor that which is evil.1 [Note: W. B. Carpenter, The Spiritual Message of Dante, 88.] <\/p>\n 2. The sin was discovered and confessed. Slowly but surely the sin was brought home to the sinner. First it was fixed upon a tribethe tribe of Judah was takenthen upon a house, the house of Zabdi, then finally upon the guilty man. And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. Observe what follows. The words of Joshua seem strange and hard at first. My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. They are strange words, indeed, and hard. Give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel. But it is best that the truth should come to light. It is dreadful that sin should exist, but more dreadful that it should exist and not be known. When it comes to light, although the revelation be heartbreaking, although it prove not only weakness but wickedness, yes, and wickedness in the hated form of cruelty and treachery, to exist in the very heart of Gods people, let us be thankful at least that we know how bad we are or may be. Let us give glory to the Lord God of Israel.<\/p>\n Confession unto Godthat is the first thing. For it is He whom we have grievously offended. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. And then confession unto man. He who will tell all the truth in the hour of his judgment is not so bad as he who departs with a lie upon his lips.<\/p>\n His soul was thirsting for confession as pilgrims in a desert thirst for the spring of living water. When sin warps the soul out of line, repentance springs it back again to its normal place. He who has pondered long lifes deepest problems knows that memory holds no dearer recollection than hours when the erring child moves from sin toward confession and forgiveness. Disobedient, the child fears the parents disapproval. Dreading the discovery, it conceals that sin through deceit. Soon the sweetness of the stolen pleasure passes away. Remorse makes a dark cloud to overshadow the child. Each moment increases the gloom. And when the darkness falls, and the prayers are said, and the light is turned out, and the mothers kiss leaves the child alone, with solitude comes increased sorrow. Because its first lie is a sin greater than it can bear, the child calls aloud, and flinging itself into the arms of the returning mother, in a wild, passionate abandon of tears and sobs pours forth the full story of its sin, and, mingling its torrent with the parents tears, is cleansed in that deep fountain named the mothers heart. What hour in life holds a happiness so deep and sweet as that hour of confession and forgiveness for the child, when it falls asleep, having recovered its simplicity? And men are but children grown tall and strong.1 [Note: N. D. Hillis, Great Books as Life-Teachers, 108.] <\/p>\n 3. The sin was expiated. The accursed thing had brought upon the Israelites disaster and defeat. The accursed thing must therefore by Divine command be put away. And it was put away with unflinching rigour in the valley of Achor. A trying day it must have been for the Israelites when they were called upon to stone to death one of their own brethren. Some may have shrunk back from the performance of so stern and painful a duty. Others may have wished that the punishment might be commuted into another less severe. But no. The guilty person must be put to death. And, at whatever expense of feeling on their part, he must die by the hands of his brethren.<\/p>\n There is a terrible sweepingness, an unsparingness, which startles and astonishes us in the work of judgment executed by the Israelites at the command of Jehovah. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up unto the valley of Achor. And they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones.<\/p>\n It does seem hard sometimes that the sons and daughters of Achan were made to share in the dreadful punishment of their father. And here it is by no means sufficient to say with a recent writer, who means at least to be religious, that the history before us only illustrates the sanguinary severity of Oriental nations, which has in all ages involved the children in the punishment of their father, for we cannot but remember that the Jews had received a law which has specially insisted on the sacredness of human life, and it is difficult to see how the slaughter in question was other than a high crime against the Sixth Commandment, unless it could appeal to some independent principle, which justified and explained it. It is, indeed, more than probable that Achans family were, to a certain extent, accomplices in his sin. They must have been privy to the concealment of the stolen spoil in the tent, and they knew what was involved in stealing and in concealing it. But, besides this, we cannot doubt that Achan and his family are here regarded as forming in some sense, a moral whole, and not simply as a set of individuals, each of whom was on his or her trial. Scripture does take these two views of human beings. Sometimes it treats us as each one entirely separate from all besides, both in probation and in judgment; and sometimes it merges the individual in a wider association of which he forms a part; and whether it be the family, or the race, or the church, or humanity, it merges him in it so completely as to treat him as though he were merely a limb of the great whole to which he belongs; and both of these views of men are true to, and they are based on, the nature of things, since man is by the terms of his creation at once a personal being complete in himself, and yet a part of a larger organismthe human family. On the first of these aspects the gospel, no doubt, specially insists, but it does not by any means ignore or dispense with the second. When the Apostle tells us that in Adam all die, and that by one man sin came into the world, and death by sin, he treats every descendant of Adam as part of a family which is united in its natural head, and which is fatally compromised by the acts of that head. This principle of the reality of a common nature which we all share explains our loss of righteousness in Adam; but it tells to our advantage even more decisively, for it explains our recovery of righteousness in Christ. In Christ shall all be made alive. As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.1 [Note: H. P. Liddon.] <\/p>\n III<\/p>\n The Valley of Hope<\/p>\n The valley of Achor became a door of hope. It was in truth a terrific act of penal retribution by which Achan and his family met their death, and it requires an effort to ask ourselves how the spot which witnessed this scene of torture and of shame could be a door of hope. It was a door of hope for Israel, because Achans sin, while undiscovered, had about it this terrible distinction, that in an eminent degree it brought with it weakness and ruin to the public cause of Israel. Israel was not fully pure-hearted while the Babylonian robe which ought to have been burnt, and the gold and silver which ought to have been placed in the treasury of the Lord, were sacrilegiously hidden away in the earth beneath Achans tent; and a serious effort, like the attack on Ai, revealed the presence of moral unsoundness somewhere, which, so long as it festered at the heart of Israel, made further progress impossible. When Achan had been discovered and punished, Israels weakness at once disappeared. The Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger, and Ai fell easily before the first assault.<\/p>\n The punishment of the transgressor in that case, and the putting away of sin in connexion with penitence and prayer, reopened, after defeat, the door of hope, and restored the enjoyment of Divine help. The discomfiture that so troubled the host of Israel was immediately followed by the victory at Ai, which inspired them with the hope of soon possessing the whole land. So with Israel after the Captivitya dreary night of weeping was followed by a bright and blessed morning. So, too, in time to come, when, after a long and sorrowful expectation, Israel shall return from the lands of their exile to their fatherland, or by faith and repentance to the paternal God, the light of better and more hopeful days shall dawn upon them.<\/p>\n 1. The valley of Achor runs through the life of the world. Trouble is not young. The story of the earth is full of tragedy. Sin and penalty crowd into the experience of man. God leads us into struggle and difficulty. We ought to be glad, and we are glad when we are wise, that it is part of the order of human living that God does not suffer us always to be in the presence of a weakening, enervating, and destructive prosperity. When we have been emasculated by our continuous successes, He breaks the thread, and flings us upon defeat, so that we may learn that our truest success is in character, not in fortune; in the building up of manhood, not in accumulation of coin; in the discipline of the will and the subordination of our spirit to Him, and not in fleeting and transitory pleasures. Hosea does not try to hide from us that the valley of Achor is a valley of trouble by calling it by some other name. You do not change facts by changing the terms in which you describe them; and though you may assert that the sorrow is unreal, that it is entirely imaginary, if the iron is going into your soul all such assertions will be simply an increase of irritation and pain. We cannot, when the pressure is heaviest, and the burden is bearing us down to the earth so that we cannot stand on our feetwe cannot accept illusory terms, as if, forsooth, they altered actual facts. No! trouble is a reality in life. The sin that causes the trouble, that is the spring of it, that makes the penalty inevitable, that compels the God of righteousness and order to inflict itthat is the horrible reality, and we must treat it for what it really is, and then, and then only, is there a chance of our hearing and welcoming the good news of redemption.<\/p>\n No man would sin, if he could realize beforehand the prolonged agony of his act. If sin could foresee the end of its careless journey, it would shudder, instead of laughing along its route; and if it could see the pit beneath the golden bracken, the black swamp beneath the emerald moss, the cunning snare across the pleasant pasture, the gap on the dark bridge, or the worm in the mellow fruit, it would alter its hasty course, and seek to change its nature. The chief mission of righteousness is the merciful relieving of sins born-blindness.1 [Note: E. G. Cheyne, The Man with the Mirror, 114.] <\/p>\n 2. Sanctified trouble is the door of hope, the herald of victory and rest. Faith amid trouble opens the way to the Promised Land. The figure which Hosea employs to convey this is very expressive. The narrow gorge stretches before us, with its dark overhanging cliffs that almost shut out the sky; the path is rough and set with sharp stones; it is narrow, winding, steep; often it seems to be barred by some huge rock that juts across it, and there is barely room for the broken ledge yielding slippery footing between the beetling crag above and the steep slope beneath that dips so quickly to the black torrent below. All is gloomy, damp, hard; and if we look upwards the glen becomes more savage as it rises, and armed foes hold the very throat of the pass. But, however long, however barren, however rugged, however trackless the valley may be, we may see a bright form descending the rocky way with radiant eyes and calm lips, Gods messenger, Hope; and the rough rocks are like the doorway through which she comes near to us in our weary struggle.<\/p>\n That bright form which comes down the narrow valley is Gods messenger and heraldsent before His face. All the light of Hope is the reflection on our hearts of the light of God. Her silver beams, which shed quietness over the darkness of earth, come only from that great Sun. If our hope is to grow out of our sorrow, it must be because our sorrow drives us to God. It is only when we by faith stand in His grace, and live in the conscious fellowship of peace with Him, that we rejoice in hope. If we would see Hope drawing near to us, we must fix our eyes not on Jericho that lies behind among its palm trees, though it has memories of conquests, and attractions of fertility and repose, nor on the corpse that lies below that pile of stones, nor on the narrow way and the strong enemy in front there; but higher up, on the blue sky that spreads peaceful above the highest summits of the pass, and from the heavens we shall see the angel coming to us. Sorrow forsakes its own nature, and leads in its own opposite, when sorrow helps us to see God. It clears away the thick trees, and lets the sunlight into the forest shades, and then in time corn will grow. Hope is but the brightness that goes before Gods face, and if we would see it we must look at Him.<\/p>\n I remember once, in the south of Europe, descending about sunset into a deep solemn valley, circled in by precipitous mountains, and shadowed over with dark pine groves. It seemed as if we were about to lose sight of the day, and of the gladness of nature, and to descend, with Jonah, to the bottoms of the mountains. But, in the perpendicular rocks on the opposite side there was a deep breach or cleft, and right up to this our path pointed. Now, through that rift the setting sun was pouring such a golden glory that it seemed the path to a better world; and I thought then, and I think now, that the deep gloom of the valley, and the brightness which we could not reach save by descending into it, were no bad types of the light affliction which is but for a moment, and the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory hereafter.1 [Note: J. M. Neale.] <\/p>\n Russel Wallace tells us that one of the most peculiar and least generally considered features of our earth, but one which is also essential to the development and maintenance of the rich organic life it possesses, is the uninterrupted supply of atmospheric dust which is now known to be necessary for the production of rain clouds and beneficial rains and mists, and without which the whole course of meteorological phenomena would be so changed as to endanger the very existence of a large portion of the life upon the earth. Now, the chief portion of this fine dust, distributed through the upper atmosphere, from the equator to the poles, with wonderful uniformity, is derived from those great terrestrial features which are often looked upon as the least essential, and even as blots and blemishes on the fair face of naturedeserts and volcanoes. Most persons, no doubt, think they could both be very well spared, and that the earth would be greatly improved from a human point of view, if they were altogether abolished. Yet it is almost a certainty that the consequences of doing so would be to render the earth infinitely less enjoyable, and, perhaps, altogether uninhabitable by man.<\/p>\n In most human lives are periods closely corresponding with the deserts of the earth; times and conditions distinctly stale, flat, and apparently unprofitable; spaces of compulsory isolation and solitariness; seasons of intellectual infertility and depression; stretches of drudgery; tedious spells of personal affliction; times of enforced inaction; years of dullness, dreariness, and barrenness. Destitute of the ordinary interests, excitements, and charms of life, we may justly reckon such periods as constituting the wilderness stages of our pilgrimage. Of these monotonous interludes we think and speak regretfully. They are looked upon as the waste part of life, the days when we simply marked time, when we ploughed the sand. What the desert is to nature, a blot and blemish, that, we conclude, are the grey featureless terms of human life. Yet may we not be mistaken about our dreary days and years as we are in our estimate of the worth of deserts in the system of nature? As Dr. Wallace reminds us, indirectly we get our vineyards from the Sahara; and is it any more difficult to believe that what we are tempted to call the waste places of life fulfil a mission similarly benign and precious?1 [Note: W. L. Watkinson, The Ashes of Roses, 98.] <\/p>\n 3. The prophet speaks out of his own experience. He is telling what he himself has gone through. He had married a sweet and lovely girl in her purity and charm, and she had become an unfaithful wife. She that had been the guardian of his home, the spring of his happiness, the source of his strength, was disloyal; she was an adulteress, and the mans heart was rent, and in anguish he looked up to God. But how had he borne it? He had come out of the great tribulation, and washed his robes and cleansed his heart from all hatred and revenge, and ascended to loftier heights of spiritual power than he had ever known before, to larger conceptions of Gods pity and love. The valley of Achorthat is, the valley of troublinghad been the door through which he ascended to the highlands of the spiritual orderthe heavenly places of God.<\/p>\n Hosea found his gospel where he found Godin himself; but he did not keep it to himself. He gave it to others. He turned the materials of his own experience into the means by which he became a Barnabas, a son of consolation. As one of our best teachers says: He saw God in the tragedies of his life. He heard the voice of God in the sorrow and shame of his own home; and so, led by the love he still bore to his sinful wife, he became the messenger of Divine love and mercy to Gods sinful people.<\/p>\n John Bunyan, in his Pilgrims Progress, talking about the Valley of Humiliation, says that it is the most fruitful valley that ever crow flew over. So it is. Where do we look when we want to feed our faithwhen we ask for something that shall enable us to set our feet down firmly, to stand loyal to our conviction, true to our principle? We go back to the Valleys of Achor; see the men who suffer like heroes, passing through, rising high, doing their work whole-heartedly; and we are stiffened in conviction and sustained in conflict. Yes. Call to remembrance the former generations, turn over the history of human progress, and what do you come upon? Valleys of Achor. The greatest, the best souls go through them, and go through to the widest service of mankind. John Morley asks<\/p>\n To what quarter in the large historic firmament can we turn our eyes with such certainty of being stirred and elevated to thinking better of human life, and of the worth of those who have been most deeply penetrated by its seriousness, as to the annals of those intrepid spirits whom the Protestant doctrine of the indefeasible personal responsibility brought to the front in the sixteenth century in Germany, and in the seventeenth century in Scotland?1 [Note: J. Clifford, The Gospel of Gladness, 36.] <\/p>\n The wilderness shall blossom<\/p>\n Beneath Thy ray benign<\/p>\n And Achor, with its vale of woe,<\/p>\n Shall spring with Hope Divine;<\/p>\n Thy resurrection power<\/p>\n Transforms the dreary scene,<\/p>\n Abundant blossom shall appear,<\/p>\n Where all had cankered been.<\/p>\n The earthly clod is helpless,<\/p>\n All, all the power is Thine,<\/p>\n The seedling and the fruitage fair,<\/p>\n The shower and the shine;<\/p>\n To Thee be all the glory,<\/p>\n To Thee resultant praise,<\/p>\n Eternity will still unfold<\/p>\n The wonder of Thy Ways.<\/p>\n The Valley of Achor<\/p>\n Literature<\/p>\n Burrell (D. J.), The Unaccountable Man, 191.<\/p>\n Clifford (J.), The Gospel of Gladness, 28.<\/p>\n Connell (A.), The Endless Quest, 102.<\/p>\n Dick (G. H.), The Yoke and the Anointing, 102.<\/p>\n Dykes (J. O.), Plain Words on Great Themes, 59.<\/p>\n Gray (W. A.), The Shadow of the Hand, 320.<\/p>\n Henson (P. S.), The Four Faces, 151.<\/p>\n Huntington (F. D.), Christ in the Christian Year: Trinity to Advent, 187.<\/p>\n Kelman (J.), Redeeming Judgment, 123.<\/p>\n Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Ezekiel to Malachi, 94.<\/p>\n Meyer (F. B.), Future Tenses, 69.<\/p>\n Neale (J. M.), Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, iii. 337.<\/p>\n Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, ii. 369.<\/p>\n Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xlvii. (1901), No. 2750.<\/p>\n Stuart (A. M.), The Path of the Redeemed, 87.<\/p>\n Watkinson (W. L.), The Ashes of Roses, 98.<\/p>\n Welldon (J. E. C.), Youth and Duty, 195.<\/p>\n Wilkes (H.), The Bright and Morning Star, 74.<\/p>\n Williams (T. R.), The Evangel of the New Theology, 243.<\/p>\n Christian Treasury, xii. (1856) 61 (W. Jay); xxii. (1866) 277 (J. Milne).<\/p>\n Penuel, iv. 50 (G. Warner).<\/p>\n I will: Hos 2:12, Lev 26:40-45, Deu 30:3-5, Neh 1:8, Neh 1:9, Isa 65:21, Jer 32:15, Eze 28:26, Amo 9:14 <\/p>\n the valley: Jos 7:26, Isa 65:10 <\/p>\n for: Lam 3:21, Eze 37:11-14, Zec 9:12, Joh 10:9, Act 14:27 <\/p>\n she shall sing: Exo 15:1-21, Num 21:17, Psa 106:12 <\/p>\n as in the days: Hos 11:1, Jer 2:2, Eze 16:8, Eze 16:22, Eze 16:60 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Jos 7:24 – the valley Job 33:25 – return Psa 103:5 – thy youth Psa 129:1 – from Isa 23:15 – shall Tyre sing as an harlot Isa 54:6 – a woman Jer 3:4 – the guide Jer 31:17 – General Jer 33:7 – and will Eze 23:3 – in their Hos 9:10 – grapes Joe 2:19 – I will send<\/p>\n THE VALLEY OF ACHOR<\/p>\n I will give her the valley of Achor for a door of hope.<\/p>\n Hos 2:15<\/p>\n The prophet Hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of events in the former history of his people. So he foretells that the old story of the wilderness will be repeated once more. In that wilderness God will speak to the heart of Israel. Its barrenness shall be changed into the fruitfulness of vineyards, where the purpling clusters hang ripe for the thirsty travellers. And not only will the sorrows that He sends thus become sources of refreshment, but the gloomy gorge through which they journeythe valley of Achorwill be a door of hope. In all our difficulties and sorrows and perplexities; in the losses that rob our homes of their light; in the petty annoyances that diffuse their irritation through so much of our days; it is within our power to turn them all into occasions for a firmer grasp of God, and so to make them openings by which a happier hope may flow into our souls.<\/p>\n I. But the promise, like all Gods promises, has its well-defined conditions.Achan has to be killed and put safe out of the way first, or no shining hope will stand out against the black walls of the defile. The tastes which knit us to the perishable world, the yearnings for Babylonish garments and wedges of gold, must be coerced and subdued. Swift, sharp, unrelenting justice must be done on the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life if our trials are ever to become doors of hope. There is no natural tendency in the mere fact of sorrow and pain to make Gods love more discernible, or to make our hope any firmer. All depends on how we use the trial, or, as I say, first stone Achan, and then hope!<\/p>\n II. So, the trouble which detaches us from earth gives us new hope.Sometimes the effect of our sorrows and annoyances and difficulties is to rivet us more firmly to earth. The eye has a curious power, which they call persistence of vision, of retaining the impression made upon it, and therefore of seeming to see the object for a definite time after it has really been withdrawn. If you whirl a bit of blazing stick round, you will see a circle of fire, though there is only a point moving rapidly in the circle. The eye has its memory like the soul. And the soul has its power of persistence like the eye, and that power is sometimes kindled into activity by the fact of loss.<\/p>\n III. The trouble which we bear rightly with Gods help gives new hope.If we have made our sorrow an occasion for learning, by living experience, somewhat more of His exquisitely varied and ever ready power to aid and bless, then it will teach us firmer confidence in these inexhaustible resources which we have thus once more proved. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. That is the order. You cannot put patience and experience into a parenthesis, and, omitting them, bring hope out of tribulation. But if, in my sorrow, I have been able to keep quiet because I have had hold of Gods hand, and if in that unstruggling submission I have found that from His hand I have been upheld, and had strength above mine own infused into me, then my memory will give the threads with which hope weaves her bright web. I build upon two thingsGods unchangeableness, and His help already received,and upon these strong foundations I may wisely and safely rear a palace of hope, which shall never prove a castle in the air. The past, when it is Gods past, is the surest pledge for the future. Because He has been with us in six troubles, therefore we may be sure that in seven He will not forsake us.<\/p>\n Illustration<\/p>\n Immortality!that word suggests the highest application of this text. People call the world a vale of tears. I do not say whether that is a good name for it or not, but if earth is the valley of trouble, then the supreme instance of the way in which it becomes a door of hope is that, when we get up to the very head of it, and the black cliffs seem to stand there and block all further advance, a door will open, and we shall pass into a short tunnel and come out into light on the other side the hill, where we shall find broad plains, a bluer sky, a brighter sun, and the trouble will all have died down into perfect peace.<\/p>\n (SECOND OUTLINE)<\/p>\n HOPE IN TROUBLE<\/p>\n We have before us in this chapter the history of a soul. What was here written of a nation was written of souls. It was true of the nation, just because the nation was a nation of souls. In all dealings with God, the individual is the reality of the nation.<\/p>\n I. The soul was at first the betrothed and the espoused of God.Each several soul ought to be so.<\/p>\n It is only in God that any soul can find rest. Why? Because the soul was made for God, for One perfectly good, perfectly lovely, perfectly loving, unchangeable, ever new yet ever constant, the same yesterday and to-day and for ever, and yet Whose mercies fail not but are new every morning. No wonder if the soul that will not have Him has nothing, or if the soul that strays from Him strays from its rest.<\/p>\n II. Now that is the case with the soul here described.The faithless, truant soul has become tired of God. It was perhaps never His really. So then to all alike, though not quite in equal degree, the saying is applicable; the soul that will not have God has said to itself, as it is here written, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. That is the idea of the lovers: they are all those things from which the soul hopes for advantage.<\/p>\n It may be pleasure. Or, perhaps the fancied lover is not pleasure, but something else. There are sordid souls as well as sensual. And there are thousands everywhere who have no such definite aims as these: not worshippers of pleasure or money: men who have little energy and no plan of life; but who yet, from day to day, are equally truants from God, and equally seeking their happinesssuch happiness as they know ofin the things of this world. To all alike the words are appropriate: would to God that they might be convincing and converting too!<\/p>\n III. The soul has deserted God and gone after its lovers.Does He let the matter alone? The chapter before us discloses a far different scene. It details to us Gods dealings with the soul which has refused Him. Take a few particulars.<\/p>\n (1) There is, first, a discipline of disappointment.<\/p>\n (2) There is, next, a discipline of deprivation.<\/p>\n (3) There is a discipline of desolation. A discipline, observe: there is love in it still.<\/p>\n (4) The issue and end of all these dealings. The soul, disappointed, deprived, desolated for her sin, says at last, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now. The words are almost those of the Prodigal Son, How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to my father. Yes, the thought does come at last, It was better for me when I was with God. Such is the one hope of sinners. Such is the end which God himself proposes in His ministry of patient discipline towards those erring and faithless souls which He first created for Himself, and then bought back for Himself by the blood of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n The subject has great sweetness in it. This, then, is what God is.<\/p>\n This God Whom I have been escaping from, has that in Him which would be my souls rest. Nay, has that in Him without which my soul never can know rest. And this God, from Whom I have been escaping, not only has in Him that which would make me happy, but alsomarvellous thoughtis anxious that I should reach it. What does this chapter say? That God is engaged in the pursuit of truant souls, not for punishment, but for love. There is a whole course and chain of means and efforts for bringing them back to Himself for happiness. Everything that befalls me has this end.<\/p>\n Dean Vaughan.<\/p>\n Illustration<\/p>\n The valley of Achor was a long wild pass up through the hills. The prophet says that a door of hope would open there, like the Mont Cenis tunnel, which conducts from the precipices and torrents of the northern side of the Alps to the sunny plains of Italy. That door opens hard by to the heap of stones, beneath which Achan lay, who had troubled Israel. You must put away your Achans, if you would see doors of hope swing open before you.<\/p>\n Hos 2:15. Give her her vineyards. The husband drove his unfaithful wife from the possession that had been given her in the beginning of their marriage, but they were to be kept for her if and when she reformed and showed a desire to come back to her first love. Achor is used figuratively, and the events connected with it are compared with the experiences of Israel in the times being predicted hy Hosea. The. word means “trouble,* and it was given to the place and circumstance when Achan sinned at Jericho and brought so much “trouble upon the congregation. But the nest encounter they had with the enemy proved successful. Likewise, Israel in the days predicted by Hosea was destined to get into trouble because of sins. However, the release from captivity was to be as joyful as the exile was troublous. That will be similar to the success at A1 following the trouble about the valley of Achor. Day . . . Egypt Is another event used for the same purpose of illustration. Israel had much trouble in that land, but the deliverance from the bondage brought much joy.<\/p>\n 2:15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley {q} of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall {r} sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.<\/p>\n (q) Which was a plentiful valley, and in which they had great comfort when they came out of the wilderness, as in Jos 7:26 , and is called the door of hope, because it was a departing from death and an entry into life.<\/p>\n (r) She will then praise God as she did when she was delivered out of Egypt.<\/p>\n The Lord promised that He would restore the blessings of vineyards to the Israelites. He would turn the valley of Achor (lit. trouble, the site of Achan’s sin, Jos 7:24-26) into a door of hope (cf. Hos 1:11). This memorial site would no longer remind the Israelites of past sins but would appear to them as the gateway to a new and better future in the land. She would sing again, as the Israelites did when they had crossed the Red Sea (Exodus 15). It is as though Israel would start over as a nation, as she did when she came out of Egypt and the wilderness into the Promised Land.<\/p>\n And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 15. I will give her her vineyards from thence … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 2:15”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nFuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"